Guano distributor



Sept. 12, 1933. E. M. COLE GUANO DISTRIBUTOR Filed May 4, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 12, 1933. M, COLE 1,926,993

GUANO DISTRIBUTOR Filed May 4, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 66 -jj. *f

i ifi 5 MGJCZV Sept. 12, 1933. E. M. COLE GUANO DISTRIBUTOR Filed May 4, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GUANO DISTREUTOB Eugene 1!. Cole, Charlotte, N. 0. Application May 4, 1932. Serial No. 609,082

This invention relates having a rotalt having means for her and out of the same hopper a definite measured quantity of guanothe state of the guano as to fineregardless of member forcing into said rotary mem- .lOlaiml.

to a guano distributor disposed therein and to the exterior of the mess and moisture contents.

An object of this invention is to provide a guano distributor having vided with a peripheral annular space for forcing guano into gether with means for the annular space said distributing means tain at all times a definit in the annular space so guano expelled from the at all times regardless of guano.

a rotary member proand means said annular space, to-

forcing the guano from to the exterior of the hopper,

being adapted to mainquantity of free guano that the amount of hopper will be constant the condition of the The structure shown herein is somewhat similar to the structure in my co-pending application, Serial Number 571,648, filed October 28,

1931, and in which application I have elected to retain the broader claims.

Some of the objects of been stated, other objects scription proceeds when drawings, in whichwith the accompanying Figure 1 is an elevation tributor the invention having will appear as the detaken in connection of my guano dis- Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the gears which are attached to driving moved, showing means for in and out of gear;

wheel with housing rethrowing distributor Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line,

3-3 in Figure 2, thru g driving wheel;

Figure 4 is a sectional ear housing attached to plan view of the guano hopper and associated parts;

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 5-5 in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is an inverted plan view of the guano hopper Figure '7 is an elevation of a guano hopper showing opening rear portion of the and means whereby guano is defiected from the hopper.

Figure 8 is a vation of a portion of wall of the hopper and annular space 110.

detail view showing a front elethe deflector and the side- -the two disks forming Referring more specifically to the drawings,

indicate the two memor the main portion of uano distributor having between the front ends thereof in which is mounted a draft ring 13. A depth regulating member 14 is secured between the members 10 and 11 and has a drag 15 secured on the lower end thereof with a brace 16 secured to member 14 and having a slot 17 in the upper 60 end thereof penetrated by a bolt 18 penetrating the beam portions 10 and 11 for the purposes or adjusting the depth of the plow 19 secured to the lower end of foot member 20 which member is secured by any suitable means such as bolts 65 21 and 22 to hold the foot member rigidly between the beam members 10 and 11. Bolt 22 also secures handle portions 23 at their lower ends to the beam members 10 and 11. Handle members 23 project upwardly and rearwardly 0 and have secured thereto by any suitable means such as bolt 24 and upper end of braces 25, the lower end of said braces being secured to beam members 10 and 11 tor supporting the handles in a rigid position. 75

Suitable downwardly projecting members such as 26 are secured to the rear end of beam members 10 and 11 (there being only one of these members shown). These members are secured by any suitable means such as bolts 27, piercing the downwardly extending members 26, the vertically inclined brace 25, and also the beam members 10 and 11. Between these downwardly projecting members 26 is mounted a traction or ground wheel 28 having an axle 29 which projects thru bearing portion 30 of member 26, and is squared at one of its ends and has removably mounted thereon a pinion 31 which pinion is adapted to mesh with another pinion 32 rotatably secured on a sleeve 33, which sleeve is threadably secured on bolt 34, and this sleeve has a base portion 35 having lips 36 and 37, said lips of base portion fitting tightly against gear lever 38 to prevent relative movement between sleeve member 33 and member 38. Pinion 32 has an extension 39 which is hexagonal in cross-section. Removably mounted on this hexagonal portion is a sprocket wheel 40, the sleeve portion 39 of pinion 32 and sprocket wheel 40 being con- 100 fined on bolt 34 by means of a washer 41 and cotter pin 42.

The upward and downward movement of lever 38 to throw pinion in and out of gear is accomplished by means of a rod which pierces gear lever 38 and is secured thereto by any suitable means such as cotter key 51. Rod 50 extends upwardly and is secured to plate 51a, said plate being pivotally mounted on member 52. Plate 51a also has attached thereto a rod 53 which is pivotally attached to lever 54 as at 55 which lever of bolt 57 penetrating slot 58.

is pivotally mounted to handle 23 by any suitable means such as bolt 56; therefore, it is evident that when lever 54 is pulledforward or backward rods 50 and 53 are moved at the same time and lever 38 is respectively lowered or raised to throw the mechanism in or out of gear.

In Figures 2 and 3 the device is shown out of gear with the distributing mechanism, and when the handle 54 is released as in Figure 1, pinion 32 is allowed to drop downwardly and the mechanism is thrown in gear. Projection 48 will limit this downward movement. When handle 54 is raised past dead center the weight of rod 50 and associated parts will hold handle 54 above dead center and hold gear 32 in raised position.

Sprocket wheel 40, sleeve 33 and pinion 32 are secured by means of which is secured to able means such as bolt 44 so that the lever can be lowered or raised, thereby throwing the pinions in and out of gear. Said portion 43 is adjustably mounted on beam portion 10 by means A suitable cover 45 is secured over the pinions 31 and 32 by any suitable means such as bolts 46, 46a and 47 penetrating member 26 and cover 45 and also bolt 27 which penetrates members 10, 25, 26, and cover 45. Projections 64, 61, 62, 63 are also provided on member 26 to hold cover 45 in proper position while bolts 46, 46a, 47 and 27 are being tightened. Cover 45 has an opening 60 thru which the extension portion 33 of pinion 32 projects, this opening being large enough to provide ample clearance for vertical movement of extension portion 33 when pinions are thrown in and out of gear.

A projection 48 is adapted to rest when the pinions 31 and 32 are engaged. A projection 49 is also provided on member 26 to hold lever 38 in its proper position in order that there will be very little lateral play .in lever 38 and pinion 32.

Since pinion 31 revolves in a clockwise motion it is readily seen that when pinion 31 engages pinion 32 the rotating movement will tend to hold beveled portion 49 firmly against projection 48, thereby preventing gears from becoming disengaged while the distributor is in operation.

Sprocket wheel 40 has mounted thereon a sprocket chain 65 which is also mounted on sprocket wheel 66, removably mounted on sleeve 67 which sleeve is hexagonal in cross section, and sprocket 66 has a hexagonal hole therein for loosely fitting over the sleeve 67. Sleeve 67 has integral therewith a beveled gear portion 68. The sleeve 67 and beveled gear 68 are rotatably mounted on pin 69 which is integral with arm 70. The sprocket wheel 66 and the beveled gear 68 with its sleeve 67 are confined on pin 69 by means of Washer 71 andcotter pin 72. Arm member 70 has projections 73 fitting closely to beam portion 10, said member 70 being fastened to member 10 by any suitable means such as bolts 74. Sprockets 40 and 66 are interchangeable. By a minimum number of sizes of such sprockets a great number of rates of fiow of guano can be effected.

Beveled gear 68 is adapted to mesh with a larger beveled gear 75 fixedly mounted on shaft 76 which shaft has a square cross section, and gear member 75 has a square hole in the center thereof for loosely fitting over shaft 76.

Beveled gear member 75 and fixed member bolt 34 to gear lever 38 portion 43 by any suit-.

provided on member 26 on. which beveled portion 49 of gear lever 38 is 79 have sliding surfaces 77 and 78 upon which gear member has sliding contact when shaft 76 turns. Fixed member 79 also has bearing surfaces 80 and 80a on the upper side thereof which are adapted to slide against the lower portion of circular plate 81 which plate is attached to the lower side of head portion 82 of shaft 76 and having bent-up portions 83 at ninety degree intervals on the plate, the function of portions 83 being to come in close contact with walls of hopper 84 and prevent any damp guano from accumulating on the sides and thereby reducing the volume of fertilizer distributed.

On the upper side of head portion 82 is another circular tion 93 whose function is to revolve with shaft 86 and its associated parts and to force the fertilizer into the annular space between plates 81 and 87.

It would appear to be diificult to have a deflector fixed on the hopper and movement on bolt 107 as a pivot, but is prevented from lateral movement. This vertical movement of deflector 103 is provided to prevent friction being applied to the deflector should some guano collect below plate 81 parts are secured 97 and 97a penetrating hopper plate 84, fixed member 79 and vertical braces 94 and 95.

The plates 81 and than the intermediate by member 103. The guano is forced into this groove 110 by means of top plate 87 having there in a plurality of radially disposed slots 111 forming tongues 112.

Hopper 84 has a suitable opening 113 therein thru whichthe guano is expelled into spout 115 screens the opening 113 and prevents the guano from coming out at opening 113 except the guano which is forced out of groove 110 by means of deflector 103.

Deflector 103 projects thru opening 113 and into groove 110 so that as member having plates 81 and 87 is rotated the guano will be forced down between slots 111 and will be forced out of groove 110 thru opening 113 and down thru spout 115. This deflector 103 is secured to member 104 by any suitable means such as bolt 105 and member 104 is adjustably mounted on the outside of hopper plate 84 by means of bolt or screw 107 pene- 1 trating slot 106 and plate member 84. The defiector 103 is adapted to scrape the under surface of plate 8'? and the top surface of plate 81, and portion 83 of plate 81 is adapted to scrape the portion of the-hopper which forms the outer wall of the groove or annular space 110. Thus, the volume of free fertilizer contained in annular space 110 is constant at all times and the volume of guano expelled is accurately measured at all times, regardless of the condition of the guano as to moisture content or size of its particles.

One of the main advantages of this guano distributor is the interchangeability of the sprockets 40 and 66 so that by the use of a limited number of sizes of sprockets the rate of flow of guano can be regulated. An important feature of this invention is that a definite quantity of guano is forced thru the openings 111 into the annular space 110 and therefore regardless of the condition of the guano a definite quantity will be delivered regardless of the moisture content of the guano. Furthermore, the portions 112 out lumps of guano into small pieces so as to not interfere with the proper distribution of the guano regardless of its state of fineness. A most important feature of this invention is the fact that all of the surfaces enclosing the groove or annular space 110 are scraped continuously so that the volume of free fertilizer contained in said space is constantly the same and the volume of fertilizer expelled by deflector 103 is constantly the same regardless of the kind of fertilizer, its

condition, and physical properties.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and although specific terms are employed they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a guano distributor, a framework, a hopper secured on the framework, a bottom member secured to the bottom of said hopper andhaving a hub portion centrally disposed therein and having a vertically disposed hole forming a bearing, a rotatable bottom member having a downwardly projecting spindle, a gear secured to the lower end of said spindle, means for driving said gear, said rotatable bottom member comprising upper and lower spaced plates, a plurality of projections extending upwardly from the lower plate in close proximity to' the inside wall of the hopper for scraping guano from said inside wall, said hopper having an opening in one side thereof adjacent said rotatable member and a deflector secured to said hopper and projecting into the space between the plates for deflecting guano from the hopper, the upper plate having openings therein to admit guano to the space between the plates.

2. In a guana distributor having a stationary hopper, a bottom member secured to said hopper and having a centrally disposed hub portion with a vertically disposed perforation therein serving as a bearing, a rotatable member mounted in said hopper, comprising spaced upper and lower disks, the upper disk having openings therein to admit guano into the space between the plates, projections on the lower disk moving in close proximity to the sidewalls of thehopper for scraping guano therefrom, a spacing member disposed between the two disks and having a spindle projecting downwardly and occupyi a position in said bearing in said hub portion, means for securing said spindle in said bearing member, a gear member secured on the lower end of. said spindle, a second gear engageable with said first gear for driving the same, said hopper having a hole in one side thereof, a deflecting member secured on the exterior of said hopper and projecting thru said hole and into the space between the two said disks for deflecting guano from the hopper and scraping proximate surfaces of said disks.

3. In a guano distributor having a hopper, a pair of spaced upper and lower disks mounted in said hopper, the upper plate having openings therein, a spacing member disposed between said disks, projections disposed along the periphery of the lower of said disks for scraping guano imparting rotation to the said spaced disks, said hopper having a hole in the lower side portion thereof and a deflecting member mounted on 1 said hopper and projecting thru said hole and into the space between said disks for deflecting guano therefrom and for scraping the proximate surfaces of said disks.

4. In a guano distributor having a stationary I hopper, a bottom member secured to said hopper and having a bearing portion centrally disposed thereof, a pair of spaced upper and lower disks mounted in the lower portion of said hopper, a

spacing member disposed between said disks and the lower plate having a downwardly projecting spindle mounted in said bearing, a gear wheel secured on the lower end of said spindle, means for driving the gear wheel, the upper of said disks having a plurality of radially disposed slots therein, thru which the guano is forced, the lower of said discs having upturned barbs along the outer edge thereof for engaging the sidewall of the hopper and scraping guano from said sidewall, said hopper having a hole, a deflecting member secured on the exterior of the hopper and projecting thru said hole and between said disks for expelling guano from the hopper and scraping the inside surface of said disks.

is" i.

5. In a guano distributor, a hopper, a-rotary member disposed in the bottom portion 01' said hopper, said rotary member having an annular peripheral cavity therein and having openings in the upper portion thereof communicating with the annular cavity, said hopper having an opening in the side thereof, a deflector secured to the outside of the hopper and extending thru said opening above said rotary member and then projecting downwardly within the circle defined by the lower portion 01' said rotary member and outside the circle defined by the upper portion of said rotary member and then into said annular cavity, the lower portion of said rotary member having upwardly projecting scrapers thereon adapted to travel outside and beneath the outer portion of said deflector.

6. In a guano distributor having a hopper, a rotary member mounted for rotation in the bottom of said hopper, said rotary member being composed of two spaced upper and lower plates, the upper plate being smaller than the lower plate and having a plurality of radially disposed slots therein and the lower plate having upturned scrapers integral with the outer portion thereof, a.vane secured to the top portion of the upper plate for forcing the guano thru said radially disposed slots and into the space between the plates and a deflector secured to the hopper, said hopper having a hole thru which the deflector projects, said deflector projecting into said opening and then projecting downwardly inside the circle defined by the periphery of the lower plate and outside the upper plate whereby the scrapers will not engage the deflector. EUGENE M. COLE. 

